


to tear apart the ties that bind

by surrenderer



Series: kylux twitfic archive [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betrayal, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Exes, M/M, Misuse of the Force, Pre-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, References to Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, Spy Armitage Hux, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:13:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26957872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surrenderer/pseuds/surrenderer
Summary: After the Battle of Batuu, the Supreme Leader discovers the source of the information leaks to the Resistance. He acts accordingly.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: kylux twitfic archive [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1911586
Comments: 12
Kudos: 65





	to tear apart the ties that bind

**Author's Note:**

> Not quite my usual soft fare. I feel like "canon-typical violence/behavior" covers most of what happens here, but I've included a (not spoiler-free) summary in the end notes, if you want to skip down and see it first. It's all non-graphic, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.
> 
> This was originally [a twitfic](https://twitter.com/parttimewonders/status/1313553605727641600), now edited and expanded. Thank you to everyone who read and shared the thread!
> 
> The title is from [Do Me A Favour](https://open.spotify.com/track/13NCxLOlvQ4Tnexgfp03Gs?si=aMHDQE6yRy2AUjg7WNX5GA) by Arctic Monkeys.

“The First Order is your life’s work. And you’d betray it like this? I thought your price would’ve been higher, General.”

Hux stays silent, staring blankly at the wall behind Kylo. He’s been quiet ever since Kylo came into the interrogation chamber, ever since the Knights of Ren dragged him out of his quarters and threw him into this room. He’s not the first prisoner to be strapped into a restraining chair, nor will he be the last. But he is, perhaps, the most unexpected.

Kylo doesn’t know what to make of it. He’s always known Hux would come for his throne eventually, had kept him close and promoted Enric Pryde above him because of it. The general has no sentimental feelings; none for his family, or fellow officers, or for Kylo. But he didn’t think Hux would ever stoop to selling First Order secrets to the Resistance. He has nothing to gain, and everything to lose, from this course of action.

What would Mitaka, and Opan—all of the lieutenants who’d admired and idolized Hux—and _Phasma_ , Hux’s one friend before her untimely death on the _Supremacy_ —what would they have thought of their precious General, if they knew what he’d done?

“I could extract all your plans from you right now,” Kylo warns. He’s not wearing his mask—it’s still in pieces in his quarters even after all of these months, and he hates that Hux can see the anger on his face and hear it in his voice. “I could shatter that brilliant mind of yours into pieces along the way. Is that what you want?”

Hux remains silent, but he lifts his chin defiantly at Kylo. His gaze is colder than Kylo’s ever seen it.

Fine, then. If that’s how he wants to play, Kylo will give him what he wants.

He raises his gloved hand and steps closer; Hux flinches, a subtle movement, but it pleases Kylo. Good. Hux is still afraid of him.

He should be.

Kylo closes his eyes and finds Hux in the Force—Force-null he might be, but he shines just like every other living creature, and as brightly as he always has. Kylo has always been drawn to him like a moth to a flame, but this time, it’s different. This time, Kylo doesn’t bury himself in Hux’s warmth; instead, he probes for his weaknesses and a crack in his armor.

Slipping into Hux’s mind is easier than expected; the general hasn’t bothered with his usual shields. Maybe he knows it’s futile. Maybe he wants Kylo to know his secrets. But once he’s in, Hux gasps for breath. He instinctively strains to keep Kylo out, or keep him only on the surface of his thoughts. It’s painful, to have someone else’s presence force its way into your mind, with no way to keep them out.

Kylo doesn’t care. Hux’s weak defenses won’t stop him now. He wants his answers.

Underneath all the familiar thoughts of weapons schematics and fleet movements and spreadsheets, there are hidden memories. Some of these he’s seen before, back when Hux willingly shared them: Brendol and all his Imperial cronies, the other boys who tormented a young Armitage until he was old enough to fight back. Rae Sloane, who had known Kylo’s grandfather in her previous Imperial life. Snoke, and even Kylo himself.

He doesn’t linger long on Hux’s thoughts about their happier days. If they’d ever known happiness to begin with. But there were the hours spent in bed and in vacant conference rooms, and once, an hour stolen in an empty, unused hangar, before it all came crashing down around them. Snoke orchestrated it, pitting them against each other in every way possible, and Snoke’s death sealed it too—Kylo has no reason to trust a rabid cur any longer.

Instead, he slices deeper into Hux’s mind in his search for any sort of motivation. Why would Hux pass information to the Resistance? Why would he destroy everything he’s worked for like this? The First Order means more to Hux than anything else in this galaxy, no matter what his feelings about the Supreme Leader are. He’s the last person Kylo suspected of being the spy.

He’s dimly aware now that Hux is gasping in pain as he stays in his head longer and longer, might even be screaming and thrashing in his restraints, but Kylo feels removed from it all. One half of him is still on the _Steadfast_ , in an interrogation chamber, with a man he knows too well strapped into the chair meant for traitors and spies. A chair never meant for him, until now.

The other half is with Hux in the wreckage of the _Finalizer_ , scuttled in space just outside Batuu’s orbit.

This is a memory Kylo hasn’t seen before, but he remembers Hux requesting permission to take a squadron with him to inspect the _Finalizer_ , to see what could be salvaged and what needed to be destroyed. He hadn’t seen the point of Hux himself going when he could easily delegate it to someone else, but had relented, even if Pryde warned him that Hux could not be left alone for hours like this.

Kylo had shot Pryde one warning glance to silence him, and that was that.

Hux is in pain. Physical pain, certainly, from getting tossed around in the battle, but as he walks around the wreckage of his prized ship, that hurts too, deep in his heart. There’s a chance to fix the _Finalizer_ , it’s not completely destroyed, but they don’t have the resources or time, and the Supreme Leader has chosen a new flagship, and a new favored General anyway.

_Let the past die already_ , Hux thinks bitterly. He’d love to dispose of Pryde the same way he disposed of his father. Ren— the Supreme Leader knew that. But now Pryde commands the entire First Order fleet, and Hux has been sidelined.

No, worse than that. He’s been discarded, it seems, just as the _Finalizer_ has been.

_Let the past die._

No, those are Kylo’s thoughts. He watches as Hux continues his inspection of the damaged ship. _Their_ damaged ship, doomed to be picked apart by scavengers and thieves once the First Order left the sector.

It was nothing more than a ship to Kylo. He was co-commander in name only, in many ways, with how often he was gone on missions for Snoke in those early years. But the _Finalizer_ represents something more to Hux: his first full command, but also where he designed Starkiller.

Where he led the First Order fleet to countless victories.

Where he met Kylo for the first time. A symbol of their combined power and what they could be, like Starkiller.

Now relegated to dust. Just like Starkiller. Just like their once-burgeoning relationship, just like Hux himself.

_I need him to lose. Let him feel what it’s like to lose everything he’s ever wanted and to have it all slide out of his grasp after a single taste._

Kylo pulls himself out of Hux’s mind, too quickly, and as he comes back to himself on the _Steadfast_ , Hux’s screams cut off and his head lolls forward, red hair tumbling loose across his forehead. A thin trickle of blood drips from his nose onto his pristine uniform. Just like every other Resistance prisoner they’ve strapped into these chairs.

There is no reason for Kylo to be shaken by the sight.

Hux is a traitor. He’s committed high treason against the Supreme Leader and the entire First Order. Kylo should kill him. Pryde would certainly advocate for Hux’s death, would probably even ask if he could do the honors himself.

Kylo would kill _him_ before allowing the old man to touch a hair on Hux’s head.

He looks at Hux again, unconscious and unaware of Kylo’s conflict. It would be so easy to do it now. He could take his lightsaber to Hux’s chest, or simply use the Force to crush him. No one would dare question the Supreme Leader’s decision to handle a high-level traitor’s execution himself.

_Not yet_ , he reasons. There will be time later to determine an appropriate punishment. Hux is still more useful to him alive than dead, no matter how much Kylo wants to rage and destroy everything in this room.

And if Hux’s dearest wish is for Kylo to lose this war, then Kylo will make sure to win before choking the life out of him for his betrayal of the First Order. Of the Supreme Leader.

He may even do it with his bare hands.

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Hux is restrained and subjected to Force interrogation techniques, similar to what happened to Poe (and Rey, to a lesser extent) in TFA.
> 
> I am on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/parttimewonders) and [Tumblr](https://part-timewonders.tumblr.com/)!


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